FTF: Faster-Than-Fate
by DCG-Charlie
Summary: Mass Effect. Just a game right? Yep I thought so too until I woke up on the Citadel with Miranda Lawson saying I have all these charges against me. I don't know how I got here but I'm just in time to learn how to be a biotic badass and help Shepard save the galaxy. Hopefully I won't die in the process. Wish me luck. Fem!Shep/Miranda pairing. Rated M for language, gore, and others.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello everyone! I know I'm doing another one. But this will be a good one. I promise. So I hope you enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: Mass Effect and any affiliation is owned by Bioware and is in fact not mine. Bioware yes. Mine no. Though I wish it was because I would make Miranda able to be romanced by fem!shep. My ideas, my grammar mistakes, my OCs.**

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A loud thump followed by a sting of swearing permeated the room. Green eyes opened to see a metal ceiling.

"What the..? Where..?"

I sat up slowly and grabbed for my glasses. Snatching up the black rimmed glasses I shoved them on and got up goose bumps breaking out over my skin. I looked around confusion setting in.

A foot locker sat at the end of a twin bed. A holo type screen hung on the wall. No windows. No decorations. No other furniture. A single door.

"Hello? Hey. Is anyone out there?" I yelled hitting on the door with my fist.

I turned my head and pressed my ear against the cool metal. There was no sound at all coming from the other side. Pushing away from the door I looked around again. No form of communication.

"So I'm either being held captive or… Mom went off the deep end and sent me to the Military."

Pacing over to the foot locker I crouched down and opened the top.

"Three black shirts. Three white shirts. Five pairs of dark pants. Socks black. Underclothes… Well shit mom went off the deep end."

Going ahead and changing into the only cargo jeans and a black shirt. Grabbing a pair of socks I took a seat on the bed and frowned. Questions flew through my mind. How did I get here? Where is here? When did I get here? What is here? Why am I here? What happened and why did it happen?

Shaking my head I pulled on the socks. Just as I placed my foot back on the floor the door opened. Looking up I jumped to my feet.

"Whoa wait a moment. What the full hell is going on? You're not real. You're from a video game."

Miranda raised an eyebrow her cobalt blue eyes looking me up and down. I shifted slightly my feet sliding into a defensive stance. She smirked slightly and walked into the room the door closing behind her.

"You showed up out of nowhere, with no identification I might add, cause a disruption in the middle of the Presidium Commons, throw C-Sec officers around like they're dolls, trash several buildings including the Embassy offices before you were taken down and you say I'm from a video game."

"Yeah video game called Mass Effect 2… Wait I did what? No there's got to be some mistake. Presidium Commons? That's on the Citadel. And in a. Video. Game."

I watched as she leaned back her hip cocking to the side. I pushed my bangs out of my face.

"Why are you wearing glasses?"

My brow furrowed. "Excuse me?"

She waved at my face with one hand. "The glasses. Your parents should have gotten you corrective surgery when you were born. No one wears glasses now unless it has holo-information."

"Look I don't know what's going on and this is a really funny joke but I have to wake up or you're gonna have to tell who ever started this that it was a great joke but I'm done playing."

I started to walk around her just to be lifted off the ground and thrown back into the wall. The all the air left my lungs in a huff as I slid to the floor. She walked over and crouched down getting her face level with mine as I fought to put fresh oxygen into my lungs.

"Cerberus has pulled almost every string to get you out of here. I plan to get you out of here." She stood and took a step back. "You can leave here as you are or in a body bag it makes no difference to me or Cerberus."

I got to my feet leaning back against the wall. The wall was solid and the biotic toss was real. That could only conclude that I was indeed awake and I was on the Citadel with Miranda Lawson standing in front of me.

"I'll go with you but I have conditions that go along with it."

She shook her head and rubbed her temples. "Fine. What is it?"

"I don't know if I have biotics so I want to be tested for it. If I don't have biotics I want the L5 implants for _all_ the biotic abilities."

Her brows furrowed in confusion. "There's no way to control that many abilities at once. It would be suicide."

"Then you have no need for me any longer unless it works. Second condition is that I want the up to date training in hand-to-hand combat and weapons training. Thirdly I need all the historical information that has happened since December 4th 2013. Fourth if I have fully functional biotics, hand-to-hand, and weapons training I want to design my own equipment, armor, and accessories. Finally I need to know today's date and a pair of shoes."

Miranda raised an eyebrow her arms crossing over her chest. "You ask for a lot. How do we know that you won't turn on us or if you're any value to Cerberus?"

I took a deep breath before letting it out slowly, a habit it picked up while playing as an Infiltrator on Mass Effect 2 when I got nervous, upset, or was ready to take a shot. Those blue eyes were fixed on me almost like I was an impossible puzzle she was trying to figure out.

"I have no allegiance to Cerberus or to the Alliance. If this isn't a video game, Humanity and the rest of the Galaxy is on the edge of its destruction just like the Protheans were fifty some odd thousand years ago. If this is real I have nothing left to lose if I do this because everyone I knew has been dead for over a hundred years. So will the Illusive Man have a deal or not?"

My words not only shocked the Operative in front of me but myself. Everyone was dead and somehow I was transported into a game or the future or an Alternate World with only the fact that if I didn't help people who could be spared would be killed by the Reapers. I had nothing to lose and everything to gain.

"Fine. We'll see what we can do." Miranda turned and walked to the door and stopped when it slid open before turning to look back.

I watched her silently. I knew she was thinking about Oriana by the way her eyes darkened and her brows furrowed slightly. She finally looked at me.

"Whoever you were before you showed up… I hope that you can put that part of you aside when shots start firing. The date on Earth, by the way, is March 10th 2180 CE."

With that she turned and left before I could say anything. I took a seat on the edge of the footlocker my fists clenched tightly at my sides. I couldn't morn for my family and friends. That would have to come later because if I knew the games and my college criminal justice classes, and I know them full well, that the Illusive Man wouldn't pass up and opportunity as to place as many biotics into one person as possible. Investing four billion credits on Shepard in five years he can invest at least two million on what I had been planning from the first time I started playing the games.

Who I was died the day I walked out of the C-Sec holding facility. When I got onto the shuttle to go to a Cerberus base Charlie Slater was born.

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**Thank you for reading the first segment of FTF and I hope you will **_**REVIEW**_** because I live off of criticism and water. Until next time…**

**-DCG**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey everyone. Hope you all are ok. Well here's the next segment of FTF.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Mass Effect or associations. Ideas, OCs, grammar mistakes are mine. ;^;**

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_Previously on Faster-Than-Fate:_

_ "Whoa wait a moment. What the full hell is going on? You're not real. You're from a video game."_

_ "Cerberus has pulled almost every string to get you out of here. I plan to get you out of here." She stood and took a step back. "You can leave here as you are or in a body bag it makes no difference to me or Cerberus."_

_ "I have no allegiance to Cerberus or to the Alliance. If this isn't a video game, Humanity and the rest of the Galaxy is on the edge of its destruction just like the Protheans were fifty some odd thousand years ago. If this is real I have nothing left to lose if I do this because everyone I knew has been dead for over a hundred years. So will the Illusive Man have a deal or not?"_

_ "Fine. We'll see what we can do." Miranda turned and walked to the door and stopped when it slid open before turning to look back._

_ Who I was died the day I walked out of the C-Sec holding facility. When I got onto the shuttle to go to a Cerberus base Charlie Slater was born._

"Miranda I expected better judgment from you than this. We don't know anything about this woman. What exactly were you planning on doing with her?"

The dark haired woman clenched her fists. The Illusive Man had already spent an hour telling her how this could hinder any or all operations that were being done and the new investments that would come into fruition. Unfortunate as it may be he was right.

"My plan was to comply with her terms and turn her into a Cerberus super solider. The natural ability she possesses is astounding. I've never seen anything like it before."

The Illusive Man took a long drag from his cigar, his cyber optic blue eyes searching her face and body language, for what Miranda couldn't fathom. He breathed out a long stream of smoke. His eyes ever strayed from hers as he put out the cigar.

"If I didn't know any better I would say that was admiration in your voice Miranda."

She straightened her back ever so slightly at those words. Admiration was putting it highly. Curiosity seemed a more fitting adjective. He leaned back into his chair linking his fingers together.

"You have a year of time and resources to do whatever it is you have planned. If there are no results to whatever this is I'll hold you personally responsible."

Miranda felt a cold chill run down her spine. Turning she walked towards the edge of the holo-transmitter ready to be done with the conversation.

"Oh and Miranda." She stopped, her body ridged with anticipation. "See what we can do with this woman. I would hate to lose an investment."

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I scrolled through the very limited options on my omni-tool. Really you'd think that over 170 odd years in the future they might have come up with apps or something like that to entertain people. I get it's for warfare, or illegal ideals, mostly but civilians should be able to use these without having to throw a Warp or Singularity.

One good thing from the time Miranda left me alone to talk to TIM was that there was a lot of history I was able to catch up on. Wars, peace, illness, medical breakthrough, biotics, politics, aliens and so much more had happened since the day I "disappeared" from home. My mind could barely wrap around it all. Luckily I can take great change in large strides.

I glanced up from the Battle of Torfan as Miranda walked into the office. The tenseness in her shoulders and the rigidness of her walk kept me from speaking. Looks like the talk with TIM wasn't a good one. Miranda sat down in her desk chair her hands instantly finding the keyboard and started typing a couple of mummers leaving her lips. I fumbled with my omni-tool for a moment before it flickered then disappeared my attention turning to her.

"Biotics show in adolescents and has to be trained for use. It takes years for someone to be able to control them. Unfortunately for us The Illusive Man gave us a year to show results that could be an asset. If you don't have an ounce of biotic powers then you'll have to rely on hand-to-hand and weaponry."

I knew this. I had read about the biotics when I had started playing Mass Effect. I also knew that my request for an implant for biotics even if I didn't have the talent was a stretch with the tiny flicker of hope that it would cause some scientific-y brain power to jumpstart itself. I took a deep breath through my nose and held it for a moment before breathing out slowly through my lips.

"Then let's start testing. I know how you Cerberus types get when there's time and resources on the line."

The corner of Miranda's lips lifted ever so slightly. "You'll wish you hadn't said that after the first month." Her smirk dropped. "You know that even if you have biotics there is no way to get multiple abilities even with the new L4 implants."

I let my own smirk touch my lips this time. Oh I love when my mind thinks outside the box. "That's where I knew a problem would come in. The L4's could be modified with a control chip allowing it to… Flip from one biotic ability category to another."

Miranda sat quietly for a moment. I could see her mind trying to bring up a flaw. I took another deep breath.

"If I don't even have biotics you can trash the idea. If I do have biotics though, you can minimize the abilities to this list." I said pulling up my omni-tool again and sending the list to Miranda's.

Those cobalt blue eyes didn't stray from where I was standing even as her own omni-tool lit up. One well shaped eyebrow lifted slightly. I looked back pushing my glasses up slightly. Shaking her head she stood and walked around her desk briskly heading to the door waving for me to follow.

"I'll get the biotics' test ready while you get… Several sessions of gene therapy. I can't have you getting shot because you're glasses are smudged or whatever else might be wrong with you. If you do have biotics then I'll look into the implant idea you presented and if it is workable we'll use it. Until the implant can be made or if you don't have biotics, I'll start you with hand-to-hand and basic weaponry."

IF this worked. It was a really big if but this is probably an alternate world where I could be whatever the hell I wanted to be and I was _going_ to be the biggest biotic badass the galaxy had ever seen even if it killed me in the end. Hopefully it wouldn't come to that though.

I tried to keep pace with her long strides as we headed towards the lab. How the hell she walked or ran in those heels was far beyond my knowledge. Though the view wasn't so bad that's for sure.

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**And that's it for the second chapter of FTF! I hope you all enjoyed it and if you didn't oh well. Drop me a review because again I live on reviews and water. Until next time…**

**-DCG**


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